The Grey Book / A collection of protests against anti-semitism and the persecution of Jews issued by non-Roman Catholic churches and church leaders during Hitlers rule

by Johan M. Snoek

26 From the journal "Hammer", published in: A.S. Berlin-Frankfurt a/M, 1911, p.201.

27 Ibid. p. 203. The anti-Christian meaning of modem anti-semitism and its historical sources have recently been noted by Salo W. Baron in: Deutsche und Juden, Beitraege, etc., Frankfurt a/M, 1967, p. 84/85: "…It is unmistakable how the resistance against everything that Judaism and Christianity stand for has increased since the 70's of the 19th century, and it is no exaggeration to say that this development prepared the ground for the Nazi assumption of power…". I have dealt with this question at length in the last chapter of my book, cf. UneiTal, Christians and Jews in the Second Reich (1870-1914), Chap. V: "Christian and anti-Christian Anti-Semitism", (Hebrew), in Press, The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem. On the anti-Christian elements in racial anti-Semitism, cf. also: Edward H. Flannery, The Anguish of the Jews, N.Y. London, 1965, p. 180 ff. See also: Hermann Greive, Theologie und Ideologie - Katholizismus und Judentum in Deutschland und Oesterreich (1918-1935), Heidelberg, 1969. In this book the author stresses that a clear-cut distinction between Christian anti-semitism or "kirchlicher Anti-Judaismus" and racial anti- semitism or "Rassenanti-semitismus" is not warranted. His conclusion is: "…dass anti-juedische Vorurteile im Katholizismus der diskutierten Periode auf breitester Basis nachgewiesen werden koennen… Die anfaenglich vielfach nicht unerhebliche Verschiedenheit in der Judenfeindlichen Argumentation zumindest der tonangebenden Kreise in Katholizismus und auf voelkisch-antikirchlicher Seite wich im Laufe der Zeit immer weiter reichenden Vermittlungstheorien zwischen den sozial, kulturell und religioes orientierten und den voelkisch-rassischen Anti-semitismus…"; p. 222/223. A similar conclusion that stresses the direct connection between the theological and historical anti-Jewishness of Christianity and modem anti-semitism is reached by: A. Roy Eckardt, Elder and Younger Brothers -The Encounter of Jews and Christians, N.Y., 1967, Chap. 1, The Enigma, 1, p. 8: "There can be little serious doubt that Christendom's traditional antipathy to the Jews is the major historical root of anti-semitism in the Western world. Historically speaking, anti-semitism derives from 'the conflict of the Church and the Synagogue.' Here is the Crime of Christendom. Such distinguished and authoritative historians as James Parkes and Jules Isaac have chronicled this fact definitely…". This thesis, about the historical continuation between the anti-Jewish attitude in Christianity and modern anti-semitism rests not only on the theological attitude of Christianity but also on the legal history of the persecution of Jews by Christians, beginning in the forth century. This is treated by: James Parkes, The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue - A Study in the Origins of Anti-semitism, Cleveland, N.Y., Phil., 1961, Appendix I, p. 379 ff. A similar historiographical approach is taken by Raul Hilberg who has Drawn up a comparative list of Canonical and Nazi .Anti-Jewish Measures, in his book: The Destruction of the European Jews, Chicago, 1961 , pp. 5-6. The list also appears in the above mentioned book of A. Roy Eckhardt, p. 12 - 13, where he draws the same conclusion, namely, that the Nazis "…did not discard the past; they built upon it…". And he adds to this quotation from Hilberg: "This fact makes ludicrous any unqualified claim that the Nazis were the enemies of Christendom."

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28 Cf. the works of E. Flannery, James Parkes, A. Roy Eckhardt, Marsch-Thieme; cf. above, and also: Karl Thieme, Der religioese Aspekt der Judenfeindschaft (Judentum und Christentum), in: "Judentum - Schicksal, Wesen und Gegenwart", hrsg. von Franz Boehm und Walter Dirks, unter Mitarbeit von Walter Gottschalk, Wiesbaden 1965, Vol. II, p. 603 IT. See also: "Judenfeindschaft. Darstellungen und Analysen," hrsg. Von Karl Thieme, Frankfurt a/M. Hamburg, 1963, 326 ff. Cf. especially the work of: Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich, "Judenfeindschaft in Deutschland von der Roemerherrschaft, bis zum Zeitalter der Totalitaet," p. 209 ff. Also: W.P. Eckert und E.L. Ehrlich, "Judenhass - Schuld der Christen?", Essen, 1964, 525 pp.

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29 Cf. the study of: Willehad Paul Eckert: "Beatus Simonius - Aus den Akten des Trienter Judenprozesses", in the above collection, note 28, edited by W.P. Eckert and by E.L. Ehrlich, p. 329 ff; also in the same collection the work of: Kurt Hruby, Verhangnisvolle Legenden und ihre Bekaempfung, p. 281 ff.

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30 Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, Jewish-Christian Disputation in the Setting of Humanism and Reformation in the German Empire, H.T.R., 59 (1966), pp. 369-390. Salo W. Baron, Modern Nationalism and Religion, N.Y., Phil. (1947), 1960, Ch. V.: Protestant individualism, p. 117 ff. Cf. especially Salo W. Baron, Medieval Heritage and Modern Realities in Protestant-Jewish lielations, Diogenes Spring 1968, No. 61, p. 32 ff.

31 "Der Ungekuendigte Bund", hrsg. von Dietrich Goldschmidt und Hans Joachim Kraus, Stuttgart, 1962, p. 206.

32 Ibid., p. 218.